Pyongyang said it fired the rocket to place a satellite in orbit, but critics believe the real objective was to test a ballistic missile.
Advertisement
The United States, South Korea, Japan, Russia, Britain, France and NATO all criticized North Korea’s move to launch a long-range rocket on Sunday that it said was carrying a satellite.
South Korea says it is to begin discussing with the USA the deployment of a missile defence system.
The US says the highly advanced Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system would be a deterrent necessitated by the North’s advancing ballistic missile programme.
South Korean’s military has seen a rocket launched by North Korea successfully entering into space, regarding it as a intercontinental ballistic missile similar to the Unha-3 rocket test-fired in late 2012.
South Korea president Park Geun-hye labelled the launch an “intolerable provocation” that was motivated by maintaining North Korea leader Kim Jong Un’s primacy in spite of the suffering of the country’s people.
The launch drew immediate condemnation from other countries in the region and from Washington, reported the Guardian.
Japan’s envoy, Motohide Yoshikawa, noted North Korea had ignored numerous warnings and its launch was a violation of the Security Council resolutions, regardless of its goal, as the use of ballistic technologies was a flagrant violation of resolutions.
Ban reiterated his call on North Korea to halt its “provocative actions” and return to compliance with its global obligations. Sunday’s launch comes weeks after North Korea held a fourth nuclear test – both acts violate United Nations resolutions.
“We condemn today’s launch and North Korea’s determination to prioritize its missile and nuclear weapons programs over the well-being of its people, whose struggles only intensify with North Korea’s diversion of scarce resources to such destabilizing activities”, she said in a statement.
“If the THAAD system were deployed to the Korean Peninsula, it would be focused exclusively on North Korea and contribute to a layered missile defense that would enhance the Alliance’s existing missile defense capabilities against potential North Korean missile threats”, U.S. Forces Korea said in a press statement released Sunday.
Kerry reaffirmed “ironclad” US defence commitments to allies Japan and South Korea and called the launch a destabilising and unacceptable challenge to peace and security.
North Korea has spent decades trying to develop operational nuclear weapons.
Advertisement
Launch breaches United Nations resolutions aimed at preventing N. Korea from acquiring missile to carry out long-range strike.
